Advisor Partners LLC Has $1.37 Million Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Advisor Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 10.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,797 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,799 shares during the period. Advisor Partners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,372,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 9.1% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $101,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Invictus RG bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth about $106,000. V Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth about $106,000. FTB Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.1% in the first quarter. FTB Advisors Inc. now owns 2,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $112,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth about $120,000. 85.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Shares of Morgan Stanley (MS) opened at 45.65 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.84 billion, a PE ratio of 13.08 and a beta of 1.63. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $46.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.39. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $29.31 and a one year high of $48.90.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $9.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.05 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 9.83% and a net margin of 16.77%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post $3.50 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 27th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.65%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, June 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 6.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. J P Morgan Chase & Co reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Tuesday, May 23rd. Deutsche Bank AG reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, July 3rd. Citigroup Inc. boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 25th. Vetr raised Morgan Stanley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $40.50 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 23rd. Finally, HSBC Holdings plc set a $54.00 price target on Morgan Stanley and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $48.02.

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Jonathan Pruzan sold 25,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.68, for a total transaction of $1,202,803.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 196,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,182,329.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 212,366 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.26, for a total value of $10,036,417.16. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,602,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,739,301.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.